Chapter 192: Ameil

"What's that got to do with me?"

The plague mage Ameil said casually.

He was tinkering with a crystal test tube, adding various potions and supplementing them with magical catalysts.

Instantly, the liquid inside the test tube began bubbling vigorously.

Faintly, white teeth and vines could be seen within.

Watching Ameil's ecstatic, manic profile.

The tiefling Lu Xiusi furrowed his brow—he could sense the dangerous, evil magical aura emanating from the object in his hands.

Unfortunately, having reached the seventh tier only with the aid of a demon prince, and being a tiefling whose very nature made proper, complete education nearly impossible,

his knowledge was insufficient to immediately identify what lay before him.

But this was certainly not merely a plague-related magical item.

Lu Xiusi had no intention of interfering with what the plague mage intended to do; he said:

"Windstorm City is growing desperate. It seems they no longer wish to tolerate the chaos in Coral Bay and may even attempt to reclaim it before the Ager family returns."

Ameil dismissed it: "I told you—Windstorm City is in utter internal chaos; they have no energy to spare."

"Even if they can't act now, the Ager family will eventually notice the unrest behind them. Once they return, they will still march on Coral Bay."

Ameil: "What of the Ager family? Frankly, I'd welcome their return to Windstorm City to test it."

Lu Xiusi gave him a long, piercing look: "I know you had a hand in Windstorm City's unrest—otherwise, the conflict wouldn't have erupted the moment the Ager family left."

"Heh, I was merely a negligible factor. The deeper forces lie elsewhere. Heh, are you afraid? I thought only demon-blooded creatures feared the Agers—so tieflings are the same? Besides, haven't you already transformed one of them?"

Clearly, Ameil had no intention of elaborating; he immediately changed the subject.

"That was not done by my master. Before this, I didn't even know Fried Ager had been transformed—perhaps even earlier than when I entered the prince's embrace."

Saying this, Lu Xiusi shook his head: "You're young—you've never seen how the Agers fight on the battlefield."

As he spoke, the test tube in Ameil's hand suddenly fell still, its contents turning lifeless.

He stared in shock, casting several identification spells.

After receiving failed results, he slammed the table in rage.

Then he began muttering curses as he recorded the experiment's outcome.

With the experiment's failure, his temper grew foul and erratic: "Enough talk! You didn't come here just to tell me this, did you?"

Lu Xiusi paused, his entire demeanor sinking into exhaustion.

"I need to extend the duration of control over the golems. They've… lately become increasingly uncontrollable."

Ameil sneered: "Still haven't found your so-called bloodline nodes?"

Lu Xiusi said bitterly: "Bloodline nodes are inherently obscured by fate—even the highest-tier divination spells cannot locate them. It's not easy. My master, the prince, was already fortunate to pinpoint the key in Aetheron's Coral Bay."

"Same as before—you prepare the ritual materials. And add a Hellfire spell this time. I need the 【Blood Vessel Curse】."

Lu Xiusi didn't hesitate—he immediately pulled a spellbook from his magical satchel.

"Ameil, the ritual materials… really can't be substituted?"

"I told you—the golems aren't simple magical creatures. They are 'unfinished humans,' naturally harboring resentment toward 'complete' humans. To control them long-term and in large numbers, you must use vast quantities of human flesh. Heh, sounds like sacrifice, doesn't it? But it isn't—it's retaliation, a way to awaken bloodline consciousness."

"I've never heard of such a ritual. Where did you even get this from?"

As he finished writing the final note of the experiment's results,

Ameil snapped his notebook shut with a snap.

"Didn't I say? I'm a dropout of Bahadur Magic Academy—where most of the continent's forbidden knowledge is stored."

At that moment, he looked up toward the eastern wall.

"Tree spirits, elves, zombies, ghouls, half-wolves, and humans… Heh, you think you can fool my eyes? Oh? The tree spirit and half-wolf are both seventh tier."

Lu Xiusi frowned: "What's wrong?"

"Someone's come to assassinate me."

The old tiefling's expression darkened: "I'll help you."

"You're old, your magic pathways are withered. Even if you forcibly ascended to seventh tier, how much power can you truly wield? Heh… a human man paired with a non-human girl? Only the forest warden of Shiying Town fits that description—he once drove off two genuine seventh-tier foes with just the two of them, both badly wounded. You'd better flee."

"And what about you? Controlling Coral Bay still requires your strength—and I need you to control the golems!"

"Don't you have a group of dark elves?"

"Those insubordinate fools? Unreliable. Even when serving the same prince, they're always scheming to seize power."

Ameil laughed bitterly: "Lu Xiusi, Lu Xiusi—aren't you just as power-hungry as they are?"

"... serve the prince."

"Enough talk. I'm not planning to fight them—I'm running."

One of Bahadur Magic Academy's key survival rules: learn to flee.

Even dropouts.

Lu Xiusi was speechless—why tell me all this if you're just going to run?

As if reading his thoughts, Ameil gathered a pile of equipment and smiled: "Let me teach you a good escape trick—I learned it from a dragon hunter: when fleeing, you don't need to outrun the dragon. You just need to outrun the other dragon hunters."

No sooner had he finished speaking.

Magic flared beneath his feet, rapidly forming a spell array—he vanished instantly with a 【Spatial Shift】.

Simultaneously, magical runes appeared across the walls of the entire research chamber.

Clearly, he had constructed them during their brief conversation.

Lu Xiusi gasped in horror: "【Flight Ban Zone】?! Ameil, you bastard!!!"

The next instant.

Pthuuu!

A furious, colossal spiritual greatsword flashed overhead, instantly shearing off the entire summit of the hill.

Five dark figures emerged against the sunlight.

Tree spirit, elf, zombie, half-wolf, ghoul, and human—just as Ameil had said.

The tree spirit and half-wolf druid radiated especially potent auras—seventh-tier mid and seventh-tier early respectively. Far beyond the reach of a tiefling mage who'd forcibly ascended to seventh-tier early.

"Tiefling?"

The lone human among them was a tall, handsome man, his spiritual energy at sixth-tier mid.

But who could wield that sword without being something more than an ordinary sixth-tier?

The beautiful elf scowled: "Human, you must learn to conceal your aura. There was a clear detection spell fluctuation just now."

"Sorry, sorry—Tally sneaked… uh, anyway, she distracted me."

The half-wolf druid used 【Wild Shape】, transforming into a massive owlbear, growling threateningly at him.

(End of Chapter)